The 1000% Solution
Ever since I purchased my new computer with Windows Vista a year ago, I have been very pleased with its performance. There has been one little quirk however. Every time I start up the computer, it creates a new version of the printer driver through a series of dialogue boxes that I have to click my way through. It was not only an annoyance that occurred every time the system loaded, but it would cause me to have to pick the right driver before I printed any document from the computer. It turns out that I purchased this printer several months before I purchased my new Vista-based computer. Since Vista generally works best with new hardware and software built for it, the fact that I had these quirks with the pre-Vista printer was not surprising. Still I managed to muddle my way through over the past year. Recently however I decided that it was time to eliminate these minor but annoying quirks by purchasing a new printer that would be fully compatible with Vista. At the same time there was another situation going on. It turns out that I refer potential project management software clients to a local technology company in my area. They are a fine organization with great expertise and goodwill, but are generally lax in making their payments. It is not that they are unwilling to pay, but they seem to be unable to keep their records up to date. Plus, they seem to have problems communicating necessary information to the right person. In any case, it is always up to me to remind them of the money they owe me. This even after we recently had a lunch meeting where they told me about a new system they were implementing to tackle this very problem! Well it turns out that they owed me a relatively small sum of around $350-$400. Now back to the printer situation. Recently I made the decision to purchase the new Vista-compatible printer from Amazon, and unload my older printer. I expected the new printer to arrive in about a week to 10 days, but instead it arrived sooner. In fact, when I came home from some chores last night, I was surprised to see the printer delivered at my doorstep. And so that night, though late, I decided to install the printer. After unpacking the box and setting up the hardware, I had serious trouble installing the software. When I ran it from my CD-player, it made a terrible whirring sound, and then five minutes into the installation, it came up with a fatal error message. I restarted and tried again, and it failed once more. That meant that I had to call technical support late into the evening to resolve the problem. When I spoke with the woman there, it did not seem very promising, as she seemed to be merely following a script. As I was tired, I thought to myself: “Oh the HP printers just don’t work right with Vista, as do many other things.” In anguish I even said this to her at one point. Fortunately, she did not react to my cry in the dark, and calmly continued with her work. Skeptical and anguished, I decided at one point to give up all my negative attitudes about the matter, and surrender to her capacity to resolve the problem. She then had me download the software over the Web and install it. Though it took a while, it worked flawlessly. Not too long after, the printer also worked perfectly. Plus, I now had none of those irritating dialogue boxes at startup that plagued me for the past year, nor any of the printing issues related to having multiple drivers. I clearly saw how my reversal from the negative to a right attitude had attracted these positive conditions. The next morning I got up and then checked my email. It was a message from the company I make referrals to; the one I described above. It was a note from the president, who told me that everyone there had been busy and only now had they gotten around to paying the bill they owed me. That was encouraging. However, when I examined the amount more closely, I saw that it was not for $350-$400, but it was for $3540! I.e. 10 times the original amount! I wondered what was could have caused this, and then saw that the work I had referred them for one of the largest companies in the US had unexpectedly increased tremendously in the last several months! Instantly I understood the real cause of this extraordinary response. I saw that the vast increase in the amount was directly related to my change of attitude the night before; when I calmed myself, shed my angst and cynicism, and surrendered to the capacity of the technical support person. By shifting from doubt to faith, life responded not only by easily resolving my printer problem, but by attracting a payment the next morning that was 10 times the amount I expected. Life not only fulfilled my aspiration for payment, but exceeded it by 1000%! --Roy Posner 14:04, 5 October 2008 (UTC) See also other Case Studies on Life Response Category:Case Studies:Life Response ---- http://server3.web-stat.com/4/humanscience.gif [http://www.web-stat.com/checkstats1.htm H] Category: Life Response